Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1887-03-31
woRrryeMrx IN ITALY.
A ssudy That May Aid the Con'ent-
ment OF Americans

. ..sv rh., WAY AID tne Contcnt-
ment OF Americans.
In Harpsr's Magazine for April Lee
Meriwether writes The assertion ~ olteh
made that what an American houseWrs
wastes or throws away as worthless W0uiu
in Europe be preserved, converted into
nutritious food and made to support PEI.
hans an entire family. Whether inns
assertion IA true or untrue the question
OF how the workingman lives In Europe
a. compared with how he lives 10 America
"a interesting. For year wore a~orE'
mans BLOUSE, and mingled and lived with |
the workinRInen Of nearly every state lh
Europe from Gibraltar to the Bosporus,
and from the Mediterranean 10 the colu
shores of the Baltic, Since my return 10
America have engaged in similar IN
yestiQation az to the condition oil the
wage-earners of my own land
The cost OF living Ia greater In America
than in any state in EuTope 1t is 10 to2O
per cent higher than In England Nls
twice as high As In France 1t IL tnfeo
times as expensive as In Italy Is uilA
difference in the cost OF living cninmeh'
surate with the difference In wages res,
aibly in England on tho continent !
should say, decidedly the low cost OF
living does not fully compensate for the
low wages received. The European work
| inQman manages to exist by reducing the
standard Of living, and buying only such
articles as are absolutely necessary There
are men in Italy who earn but seven
cents for q days work Of IA hours--one-
| half cent an hour. Very few skilled
| mechanics earn as much as 81 day the
average does not exceed 90 cents the
italian mechanic manages to get through
on this sum, partly because of the cheap,
ness Of living, but principally because OF
his wonderful economy and happy dis.
position, that enables him to be satisfied
and oontented with conditions at which
even an American beggar would rebel.
There Is no waste In Italian kitchens,
not even In kitchens Of the rich. The re-
fuse Of the rich mans kitchen is carefully
stored by the cook, and sold to dealers
In ''second-handn food, who in turn re
tail It to the poor. This perquisite forni
quite an item In the cooks income. Ht
dries and sells the coffee grounds used IL
his masters coffee; he saves the drip
, pings Of the oil in which the fish arr
fried or the macaroni Ia cooked, lays b.
the shavings and drippings from tn
, candles, and for these and similar small
odds and ends receives ct least three o
I four lire (60 or 80 cents) a month. Tn
D markets where these articles are sold ar
| usually on the piazza, or open square
1 found in all Italian cities. From one an
T the same vender may bepurchased almof
9 any article, from picked cucumber to
a rusty sword. The market-man squats o
!. the broad smooth stones OF the piazz
n with his goods piled around him--ol
d clothes, nails, second. hand food, drie
K coffee grounds, candle-ends and dripping
tools, knives and forks, rusty iron bet
steads, and host Of other articles Ia
Il numerous to mention. II is from sue
sources that the economical italian hous
wife obtains her provisions, her clothinI
and her furniture.
L The average rent paid by the Italin
3 workipgman for his room, his home an
= workshop combined, is $l2 to $15 q yea
y II he is stone-mason, or engaged in ar
y other work that does not require him
81 make workshop of his home, he ma
Y for the sake Of sunshine and air, DE-
y more--$18 or $20--and take roo
3 higher up, on the third or fourth foo
y Those who are able to do this are n
many. The ma ority must content ther
y selves with the cheaper rooms in bas
q menis and on ground floors. Unmarrit
y workingmen, If not living OF home Ii
= in lodgings where beds cost three or TO
le cents night. A very poor laborer W
Z, hire for five cents a double bed--that
NJ al, 3d. 81
, with a companion, thus making the &C
u for each only two and half cents. Som
= times as many as 80 sleep in room n
~ 16 feet square, the beds being arrang
like hunks, one above the other, two pc
=, sons in each bunk, the Bleepers "spoo
- ing" together packed like sardines.
~ AT IL o'clock, after six hours VOL
% our Italian goes to the nearest "trattoriO
r. :. and for seven or eight cents gets hear
dinner Of macaroni, bread, and viii
o The wine used is the last drippin
u squeezed from the grapes. 1t is rea
w little more than 80 much sour water, a
is bought for eight or ten cents qua
II the workingman has a family, m,
of five or six pounds of macaroni, cost
~ II or 10 cents is nrenarad Nv the wife
Hve-pound loaf btoad Is boz sht for
rs cents, making the dinner for re emit
lit family Of SIX or seven person, y,
10, IS or 40 cents. Supper, like bres kfaHt
OF meagre--bread and hnocohio, or perha
ut bread and coffee. At a workingmal
Oh trattoria pint of so-called coffee co
ZOE one cent with sugar, two cents; tht
M of pound of bread, one cent --thl
& cents for the supper of bread aud coli
Ter This is the mode Of living Of the poo
cir class. The more fortunate, such as
so families of foremen, OF small shopkeep
IRE and the more skilled mechanicslive SOL
what better. There are public kitch,
,or where the wife takes her choice dishes
he be cooked. For trifle she has a at,
cir cooked to turn, her artiohokes fried,
ere ham boiled. This division of labo
icy cooperative syHtem-reduces the cost
he living to the lowest limit. Fuel is v
RS. scarce and very dear. With few tw
and handful of GOALS the Italian v
does an amount of cooking that wo
seem impossible to an American. Lii
he children and old men and women hob
along the roads picking up the stray w
put and dead bits OF grape vines. They k
to the roads clean, and gather enough I
err to prepare their simple meals. Lii
is fuel is used for warming purposes. I
ra. nearest approach that saw TO fire
do designed for cooking purposes was SC
IAN smouldering Goals in an open pan.
the was in the high lands Of the Apennin
ore the wind was raw and cold. With ha
are dozen peRsants bent over that Sell
vii like stove and shivered. Some OF
be women filled earthen jugs with hot asl
18th and fancied they kept warm by putt
are the inpa nndar THAR drnnnnn =.